Manufacture of crochet-needles



, J. A. SMITH. Manufacture of Crochet-Needles.

No. 228,404. Patehted June 1,1880.

warren Sterne mace.

Parent JOSEPH A. SMITH, OF DEEP RIVER, CONNECTICUT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 228,404, dated June 1, 1880.

Application filed October 28, 1879.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JosEPH A. SMITH, of Deep River, in the county of Middlesex and State of Connecticut, have invented certain Improvements in the Manufacture of Crochet- Needles, of which the following is a specification; and I do hereby declare that in the same is contained a full, clear, and exact description of my said invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

This invention relates to certain improvements in that class of crochetneedles in which the hook and the handle or stock are formed separately, and afterward united to complete the device; and the said invention consists in securing the needle or hook to the handle by inserting the said hook in a cavity in the handle or stock, and elongating, by drawing or swaging, the portion of the handle inclosing the hook, whereby its diameter is reduced and its inner surface broughtinto,

close contact with the surface of the needle.

In the further description of my said invention which follows, reference is made to the accom pan yin g drawings, forming a part hereof, and in which Figures I and II are partly-sectional views of the improved needle, showing the same as incomplete, or in the first stage of the fastening operation. Figs. III and IV are partiallysectional views of completed needles.

Similar letters of reference indicate similar parts in all the views.

A and B are, respectively, the handle and the hooked needle.

The handle may consist either of a tube having an internal diameter about equal to that of the needle, as shown in Fig. I, or a solid piece having a'hole drilled in one or both of its ends to suit the needle or needles, as the case may be, as illustrated in Fig. II of the drawings.

After the insertion of the needle in the stock or handle the portion of the stock surrounding the needle is drawn or swaged over the needle by means of a suitable tool or machine, which operation has the effect of reducing the internal diameter of the stock, and thereby secures the two parts of the device firmly together.

In Fig. III a completed singleneedle is shown, and in Fig. IV a complete double one. By means of this invention a substantial crochet-needle is made at a trifling cost, as I obviate the necessity of a soldered connection, and the crochet-needle can be tempered and finished before its attachment to the handle.

Although this invention is described as applied to a crochet-needle only, it is evident that it is alike applicable to small hand-tools generally and to dental and other instruments without substantial alteration.

I am aware that it is not new to simply close a crochet-needle handle around the hook or needle proper to effect a fastening; but my invention differs from this mode of attachment in that the inner diameter of the handle is reduced in size as the handle is extended over theneedle, and a close union of the two members of the device thereby effected.

Further, the handle, when merely compressed, has a tendency, upon its release from the coi'npressing device, to assume its original shape and size, owing to the elasticity of the material, and the needle or hook is therefore to some extent relieved from the constriction of the handle 5 but where the compression of the handle is accompanied by its longitudinal extension, as described, this recovery of the handle after its release is practically obviated.

I claim as my invention- As an improvement in the art of making crochet-needles, the attachment of the handle or stock to the needle or hook by inserting the said needle or hook in a cavity in the handle and then drawing or swaging upon the needle the portion of the handle which surrounds the said needle, thus securing the two parts firmly together, substantially as herein Witnesses:

J osnrn B. BANNING, SAMUEL F. SNOW. 

